Tempus Fugit Or Does It?
by Luinlothana
Summary: Vicki Nelson had no choice but to accept that practically anything is possible. She didn’t even try to question it anymore. Waking one day on her desk at the station with a few years of her life being only a dream was stretching it even by her standards.


Disclaimer: Rights to the intellectual property fanfiction work is based on are generally not in possession of the author of said work. Otherwise the abovementioned person could not possibly be called a fanfiction writer, eliminating the possibility of classifying their work as such.

Summary: Vicki Nelson had no choice but to accept that practically anything is possible. She didn't even try to question it anymore. Waking one day on her desk at the station with a few years of her life being only a dream was stretching it even by her standards.

A/N: I was writing this story imagining it taking place somewhere between 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' and 'We'll Meet Again'. In the end I didn't make any firm time indicator in the story though so if you'd rather imagine it happening sometime later, please feel free to do it.

Huge thank you goes to Marlana for all her help beta reading this story.

Tempus Fugit. Or Does It?

"Hi, Vicki! How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?" Only the alien species otherwise known as Coreen Fennel could be this chirpy early Monday morning.

"Not really. Have you?"

"Actually, yeah. I went to a brilliant yard sale and you wouldn't believe some of the things I found there!"

"Wouldn't I? Do I need to take into account that one of them could actually come to life at midnight and go on killing spree because of some curse? Anything mellower would barely raise an eyebrow anymore."

"Sorry, no curse. They were peaceful all night. Wouldn't it be cool if there was one though?"

"Yeah, Mike would probably be contacting me right now about my assistant being found in her room murdered by a second-hand doll she bought. Cool as hell."

"I didn't buy any dolls."

"Ah, I see you took steps to ensure complete safety of the situation then. Congrats on the insight."

"_Anyway_, I bought a few things for the office. To make the climate right." The Goth babbled on, unpacking several items from her bag.

"I already know this job is crazy, Coreen. No need to scream it from the rooftops." The girl's face fell and Vicki sighed. "Fine, whatever. Just make sure they don't get in the way while we work."

"Thanks! I knew you'd like them."

Vicki restrained herself from rolling her eyes while her assistant placed a candelabrum, complete with a black suspiciously decorated candle on her desk, lit the candle and moved to the cupboard on which she placed an equally grotesque vase. Everything looked like theatrical decorations.

"Do I even want to know where you got those?"

"I told you, it was a yard sale."

"I don't think I even want to ask who organised it. How much did you spend on that? You know what, never mind."

She turned to her computer screen desperately trying to ignore the object now haunting her desk in hopes that it would at least return the courtesy. Silently she promised herself to make some popcorn and just enjoy the show when the Goth reached the point of trying to convince Henry to sleep in a coffin. Judging by the rest of the items she wouldn't be overly surprised if the girl obtained one.

III

"All done. Isn't it much better?"

Vicki tore her eyes from her job to see a few more peculiar items looming from a couple of places in the room.

"Looks great. Now the clients won't have any doubt what kind of PI agency they found. If they ask me to read Tarot cards as well though, I'm sending them to you."

"You know, now that you mention it, I actually _do _have the cards and always wanted to try..." For a brief moment Vicki wondered if Coreen ignored the sarcasm purposefully or if she was just too excited to notice an insignificant detail like that.

"For now though your job profile remains what it was, so if you don't mind could you go browse the photos from Friday's stakeout and print out the good shots? If I'm not mistaken Mr. Gordon comes at eleven."

"Sure. But you have to admit the office looks a lot less impersonal."

"Yes it does. I'm not sure if I want to be identified with this kind of 'personal' but it certainly isn't _impersonal _anymore."

"See, I told you. I'll go take care of the photos now."

"You do that."

The PI waited until her assistant disappeared from view before blowing out the candle. Dark smoke rose from it and she coughed a few times before it disappeared. She went back to work, a nagging headache now reminding her that inhaling smoke is never a good idea. The screen blurred.

III

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. I know this isn't the most fascinating case we've ever worked but if Crowley catches you snoring, there will be hell to pay."

"Mike? What...?" Vicki opened her eyes with little enthusiasm to find herself in the oh-so-practical sleeping position on her desk. She had a vague memory of working late last night so falling asleep over the files shouldn't probably be all that surprising.

Just then she registered the fact that this place was a bit too big to be her office. A bit too well-lit and noisy as well. And the most bizarre part of this all was that she somehow could see it much better than she should be able to. Not to mention she could see it well enough to recognise it without fail.

She had been sleeping on her desk alright. Her desk at the precinct.

"Vic? You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"I'm just feeling a bit off, Mike. Nothing to worry about." _Sure. _Like he didn't know her well enough to see she was lying. "What's the date today anyway?" She asked on impulse only to have him look at her strangely and hand her the calendar that was standing on her desk. For a second she simply stared at it refusing to comprehend what it said.

"Vic, what's the matter? You've gone even paler. Are you sure you're alright?"

She took a deep breath and looked at the calendar again. "You know what, Mike, maybe you're right. I'm not feeling all that great today. I think I'll go tell Crowley I'm taking a sick day."

She stood up shakily and had to grasp her chair for a moment to steady herself.

"Vicki, I'm really getting worried now. And what the hell does the calendar have to do with this?" Suddenly he stilled. "Wait. When we... You said you were on a pill, right?"

If Vicki thought the situation couldn't get any more awkward or ridiculous she was proven wrong in that very moment.

"I am." She said perhaps a bit too quickly. "At least I think so."

"You _think so_? You've gotta be kidding me, Vic. Either you are or you aren't. You of all people should know for sure." He raised his voice and they were starting to attract attention from their colleagues now. Not good.

"Anything else you want to shout out for the whole station to hear, Mike? I'm pretty sure I remembered about the pill then, okay? I think I've just been pushing myself a bit too much lately, that's all."

"You're always pushing yourself hard. This would be the first time it has any side effects like this. It's not even noon yet."

"Well, there needs to be a first time for everything. Now if you'd excuse me, I need to go see Crowley. I'm sure you can handle one day without my help." She turned to go to the captain's office.

"Vicki." Mike's voice sounded so lost that it actually stopped her in her tracks. She turned around. "I just want you to know that if it _is _that, I'll be there for you. It may not be something we thought about but it doesn't mean we..."

"Mike, don't. Please." She was suddenly backpedalling.

"Just remember that, if..."

"Okay. But it's not that, really. I mean, I would know if I was..." Funny how the word wouldn't even leave her throat despite knowing the idea was ridiculous.

"Yeah, I'm sure you would. I just wanted you to know." Mike didn't really look sure. He looked worried, protective, not to mention scared as hell but definitely not sure. If anything, it was pretty easy to read in his face that he thought she was in denial at the moment.

"Whatever, Mike. I'll be going." She looked around. "What's the matter with everyone? Show's over. If you've all ran out of work, I'm sure there is some cold case you can investigate."

With that she strolled to Crowley's office confidently.

III

She couldn't leave the building fast enough. The burning eyes of her colleagues seemed to follow her every move and she couldn't stand another second of seeing the hint of panic in her partner's eyes.

Once in the parking lot she took out her cell and was half-way through calling for a taxi when she realised she actually had a car of her own to drive. She dug into her pocket, marvelling at the simple yet wonderful feeling of freedom that came from grasping her car keys in her hand. She had never realised how much she missed it until now.

When she finally found herself behind the wheel, she needed a moment to adjust. After all, no matter if she drove to work this morning or not, she hadn't really been driving for over two years. Well, not counting the Jag thing but that was just literally blindly following instructions of someone who thankfully had fast enough reflexes so she didn't hit anything.

_If it really happened._

For the first time doubt entered her mind. So far, she had operated on the assumption that some weird thing happened _again_ and that it had propelled her back in time. But that was sounding crazier with every passing minute.

She tried to calmly review the facts. She woke up with memories of her next five years. Years which were surprisingly full of vampires, demons and magic. Years that seemed real to her. But, rationally thinking, there were two options. Either she somehow travelled in time with her memory intact from the future where she is no longer a cop and has a vampire for a partner _or _she had a vivid dream that she wasn't quite able to shake off. Okay a _very_ vivid, detailed dream but a dream all the same.

If someone asked her opinion on which of the two sounded more probable she would have snorted. If only accepting the second option didn't make her feel as if something was stolen from her... Something which value she couldn't begin to estimate.

Suddenly making up her mind she decided that sitting in the car wondering would never help. She just had to find a way to somehow verify her "memories". After all, how hard it could be?

III

She had been standing in front of the door to the shop for a couple of minutes now. She wasn't, of course, gathering her courage. At least she kept telling herself that. After all, what was the worst that could happen? All she needed to do was to go in and check on the shelves.

But what if they weren't there? What would she do then?

She snorted mentally. She would get on with her life, of course. After all, that would mean she was obsessing over what was only a dream, right? _Only_ a dream.

Finally one of the guys working in the shop apparently got sick of her hovering in the doorway.

"Excuse me, ma'am, are you going in? I mean, you've been standing here for a while now."

"Just give me a sec, okay?"

"Ma'am, if you're not going in I may need to ask you to leave. I wouldn't want any trouble but if you keep blocking the doorway like that we may be forced to call..."

In a pang of dark humour she flashed her badge at him. "You were saying?"

A crimson blush covered the boy's cheeks. "Oh. Sorry, Officer. I didn't realise..."

"It's okay. I just was lost in thought for a moment. Actually, maybe you'll be able to help me."

"I'd love to, if I can."

"Great. But I think I've been blocking the door long enough. Would you mind if I came in?"

"Of course not. So how can I help?"

"Actually I'm looking for a comic book. For a case I'm working on." She added hastily. "I think the victim might have left us some clues based on one." She quickly thought up a story and saw the kid eagerly nod, no doubt already feeling like a character in one of those detective movies.

"Do you know what book it might be?"

"I'm not completely sure. Do you have something written by someone by the name Fitzroy?"

The guy frowned and she felt her heart plunge. So it was a dream after all. None of those five years happened. She never met Henry. She was a cop, vampires were a myth and Henry died back in 1536. Not that he was her Henry.

Wait, _her _Henry? Where the hell did that come from? Not that it mattered now anyway.

"Do you have any other clues as to what book it might be?" The kid asked concerned.

"Not really." She managed in a defeated tone, trying best to tell herself that having her heart bleed over the fact that a dream appeared to be a dream qualified as lunacy.

"Well, it may take a while then. The guy's written like a couple dozen of books." The helpful boy would never know how close he came to having to deal with a police officer passing out on him.

"Really?" She miraculously managed a resigned expression when she was desperately trying to remember how to breathe.

"Yeah, follow me, I'll show you."

A moment later she was standing face to face, well, face to cover, really, with Henry's works.

"I guess I'll be on my own now. I'll look though them, perhaps I'll manage to find the right one." She said, struggling to remain in character for her cover story.

"Alright. Call me if you need any more help, Officer."

"I will. Thanks."

With that she was left alone with the comic books. Or graphic novels, for all the difference it made. So she wasn't going insane and her dream wasn't just a dream. She just needed to get down to what the hell had happened and...

She broke off as she realised that she could see none of the titles she was familiar with. Okay, it had been five years but she saw some of Henry's older works as well and she could see none of them here. Just unfamiliar covers with fantastic beasts, vampires and blood.

The cold fear that had dissipated a moment ago came back in full force. Suppose for a moment that she did have a vivid dream. She could have seen one of those covers anywhere and subconsciously remembered it. Vampire on a cover and a name she connected with the Henry, Duke of Richmond. Probably just about enough for her subconscious mind to construe a vampire it wanted to cast in her dream.

She grabbed one of the books with a vampire cover and dragged herself to the register. If she kept having mood swings like this she would successfully convince the whole precinct that she really was pregnant. Not that the ridiculous idea wasn't all over the station's grapevine by now.

"You've found it?" The boy asked enthusiastically and she decided to play along just for a while longer. Why not let at least _somebody_ enjoy themselves today.

"Yeah. Luckily it didn't take as long as I thought it would. Looks like I can go back to precinct now."

"Great. Good luck with the case."

"Thanks." She flashed him a smile and left the shop quickly.

When she came back to her car, she stared at the comic book in her hand for a while. Her hands shook as she looked at the cover with unseeing eyes, her mind substituting the picture with a face she thought she knew well. She blinked furiously, resolved not to cry. There was nothing to cry about, after all. Either she just had a vivid dream or she was going to find Henry and a way out of the situation. Neither was an occasion for tears, really.

III

The next couple of hours didn't help her much. She was slowly starting to obsess. By now she managed to discretely check all the schools in Toronto. There wasn't a Coreen Fennel attending any of them. Things weren't looking good. Suddenly the book resting on the passengers' seat of her car provided little to no reassurance.

Finally the sky started greying a bit and she parked close to a building that, at least according to her memories, she should know well. She got out and slowly walked to the door. Again she hesitated for a moment but after a second she told herself she was being an idiot.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" she turned to see Greg, reading some colourful paper behind his desk. She restrained any enthusiastic exclamation of joy in exchange for a cool professional face that she had practiced so well. It was the expression least likely to slip so she stuck with it for now.

"Not really. I'm just here to speak to one of the tenants." She flashed her badge, strangely elated at how natural that simple action felt.

"Oh. Is there any problem?"

"No problem. I was just hoping he could help us with something. Don't worry, I know the way."

She didn't give him a chance to reply as she quickly headed to the elevator. Thankfully it didn't take long for it to arrive. It was bad enough that the ride to the top floor seemed to take an eternity. At least until a sudden thought hit.

_What was she going to tell Henry?_

III

The elevator dinged and cheerfully opened on Henry's floor. Vicki left the elevator and reached his door at a slow pace. She considered taking a moment to calm herself but eventually decided against it, seeing how he would be able to tell she was standing there.

She lifted her hand and knocked. Then she waited. Briefly she wondered if she hadn't come too early and caught him before he had time to finish the morn- well, _evening_ routine. But then again he was more than capable of doing it under a second if he wanted.

That is, if he was a vampire. If he even lived here. It was entirely possible that Greg's face was another detail she had stored subconsciously. Hell, she could have even taken his statement for some insignificant case. After a while those faces blurred together after all. For all she knew the man downstairs wasn't even called _Greg_. And the apartment belonged to someone else. She took a deep breath to stop the torrent of thoughts. She wasn't going crazy. All she had to do was wait and see who would answer the door. How hard could that be, right?

Just then the door opened to reveal Henry, looking as he always did. Not that the fact in itself was particularly surprising.

"I need to talk to you." She announced without a preface, surprising him slightly.

"Do you? Why would you perceive that necessary, Miss..."

She flashed her badge automatically. All she needed to do was to convince him to talk to her. Whatever excuse she had was good. "Detective Victoria Nelson."

"I'm sorry, Detective Nelson. Is there anything I can assist you with?"

"Actually, yeah, there is. Would you mind if I came in?"

"I'm sorry, please, do." He stepped aside to let her in and gestured her to the sofa. "Now what is it that you said you needed to talk to me about, Detective?"

She looked at him for a while. _What was it that was making her so uncomfortable_?

Suddenly it hit her. The look in his eyes, the sparkle that was there every time he looked at her was absent. Until now she saw it gone only once. That terrible night when he came to her after the Pachacamac case.

"It's rather complicated."

"I see. Maybe it would be less so if you told me in connection to what exactly you wanted to talk to me. I dearly hope this isn't a case of blaming juvenile violence on the author of graphic novels. I've heard that before from some critics but never from the police."

"I'm a homicide cop, actually. I don't work those cases." She corrected automatically and saw his eyebrows ride up.

"I don't believe I will be able to help you with anything then. I doubt I know about any homicide. It's not something that slips one's mind easily." His calmness was infuriating and Vicki suddenly felt ready to do just about anything to get some sort of reaction from him.

"Really? What about the death of Delphine Guillaume back in 1944? We still have that one in the archives, you know."

In a blink of an eye he was right in front of her. If she didn't know it was impossible she could have sworn he had gone a bit paler. Suddenly she thought it wasn't such a smart move to barge into a vampire's home before he could even have his breakfast and unsettle him. Somehow she felt she didn't much like the most obvious response to that.

Dark eyes were staring into hers intently.

"**Tell me what you are doing here**." His order washed off her as she returned the stare calmly.

"Oh, so I have your attention now? Good." She smirked at his surprise.

"What do you want?" He asked in a normal tone.

"I already told you. Talk to you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Who are you?"

"Again, already told you. I'm a cop. Off duty at the moment, if you really need to know."

"What do you know of me?" He continued his questioning.

"You mean of you now, in early sixteenth century or in between?"

He sat heavily in an armchair facing her. "Must you be so cryptic?"

"It's not my fault you are asking the wrong questions, Henry."

He raised eyebrow at that. "I was not aware we were on first name basis, _Victoria_."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Your Grace. For a moment there it slipped my mind that we started to be on a first name basis in four years."

"Pardon?" Judging by his look he was now convinced she was insane.

"Oh come on, you're a vampire. You of all people should know something about keeping an open mind."

"So you _do _know what I am."

"What? You thought that I assumed that your complexion came from not going outside enough, you had contacts that changed colour on a whim and you lived a couple centuries because of a healthy lifestyle? Give me a break."

His lips twitched briefly but he didn't smile. The sparkle in his eyes was still absent, making her a bit uneasy.

"So what do you want? Did you come here to solve Delphine's death?" Clearly he decided to ignore her earlier insane statement.

"Not really. But if you still keep in touch you might want to call her and tell her to watch out for Javier Mendoza to prevent it from happening."

He was suddenly standing again, livid. "Javier Mendoza has been dead for centuries now."

"Wrong. He makes some concoction from the blood of vampires he hunts and is still fine and dandy somewhere out there. But he is not the reason I came to you."

"What is it then?" From the looks of it, she had just found out how much it took to make Henry's patience wear thin.

"What would you do in the following situation? Let's say you know of a PI, former cop, who was investigating a series of ritual murders and found out they were committed by a demon, preparing a way for Astaroth to enter this world. In the course of the case the PI met a vampire who apparently dealt with Astaroth before and they joined forces to stop the whole thing. After that the PI and the vampire became friends. They've been friends for about a year when the PI fell asleep over her case files and woke up five years in the past on her desk at the police station."

"And went to look for said vampire?"

"You got it. What else was I supposed to do? You might be the only person to believe me."

"Supposing I believe you..."

"_Supposing_? You have a built in lie detector with that hearing of yours!"

"If you were insane you wouldn't know that you weren't telling the truth." He pointed out.

"Insane, am I? What rings to you as more insane – somehow going back in time or discussing the fact with a son of Henry VIII who spends his time drawing comic books?"

"Graphic novels. And you have a point." He did seem mildly amused now which probably was a good thing.

III

Henry Fitzroy was by no means a stranger to surprises. Having lived for so many centuries nothing seemed impossible anymore. Still, when a beautiful woman appeared at his door barely minutes after sunset he could honestly say it was not something he expected. Even more unexpected was the chain of events that followed her arrival.

At first, he was simply curious as to what she might want from him. And, admittedly, slightly tempted by her beauty, that reaction he quickly reined in though, when his smell told him quite clearly that whatever the woman wanted from him it certainly wasn't a relationship. That she obviously already had with someone. Not to mention she was a member of law enforcement. While that wasn't a deterrent as such, it was a clear indication that he should stay on guard lest he wanted to do or say something reckless.

None of this however prepared him for the revelations she assaulted him with when their conversation started.

Henry thought her story sounded bizarre, but he knew all too well that with the assistance of magic stranger things had been achieved. Subconsciously his hand went to the cross on his neck, as if that simple gesture could ward off any residual effects from the dark arts. The detective seemed to know him and clearly acted at ease in his presence. This alone should be an indicator there was truth in her story. Not to mention that from this brief conversation he started to perceive her a pleasant enough company. More pleasant than he could recall having for more than a couple decades.

Barring insanity, which at that point seemed not the most likely option, her body was signalling that she was telling the truth, Leading him to the decision to go with her story. There definitely was something about her that made him very quickly realise why he might have become friends with her. And it went beyond the refreshing easiness with which she interacted with him.

In the back of his mind a thought appeared that it was truly a pity she was involved with someone else. Perhaps it wouldn't be so hard to change that involvement though, seeing how at the moment he seemed the only person she could turn to in the oddity of the situation. He squashed that thought with fierceness. She told him clearly enough they were friends and she trusted him. This would suffice for him. Not to mention he would never take advantage of anyone in such a deplorable manner. If over the course of a year he didn't make a move to change their friendship to anything more, there clearly had to be a reason, very possibly in the form of whoever it was whose scent she was carrying. That was all he needed to know, really.

He forced himself back to the present moment and went through her story once again in his mind.

"Was it possible that you were in contact with magic before you found yourself in this time?" He asked clinically.

"Not for two weeks or so."

_Two weeks_? He couldn't have possibly befriended someone who dabbed in...

"Would you care to explain that?"

"Explain what? There was a case of a pendant passed on in my client's family that apparently started bringing bad luck. Turned out she kept it in a jewellery box with some souvenir from Egypt and they had a rather interesting reaction to each other. We dealt with it but not before her son had a car accident. Luckily, he survived."

Just when he thought she didn't have any more surprises for the evening...

"What kind of cases were you taking exactly, Victoria?" She winced. That didn't look very reassuring.

"First of all, it's Vicki. You using my full name makes me feel you are either angry or worried about something."

"Actually I _am _worried. About your apparent involvement in magic through your cases."

"It's not just magic like that. I was just taking cases other people dismissed because they thought they weren't real. Having a vampire friend left me somewhat more open-minded about things."

"I see. So your involvement in magic was _my _fault?" _'This just keeps getting better. Never have I dreaded the time that was to come quite this much.'_

"There wasn't any involvement in magic to speak of." She paused. "Well, except that one time. But I didn't have any choice and told you I regretted it and you still wouldn't speak with me more than absolutely necessary for the following days." This had a reassuring semblance of his future sanity so he welcomed the statement.

"Just days?"

"You somehow changed your mind after a brother of a man I put behind bars almost beheaded me right before your eyes." Then again remaining sanity or not the future seemed to be anything but peaceful.

"I'm glad to see he didn't succeed."

"Well, actually none of it happened yet, but you will be relieved then as well." She gave him a half-smile.

"Coming back to your current ordeal though, do you remember what kind of case you were working on when you fell asleep? After what you just said I'm beginning to suspect it might be connected to what happened to you."

"Actually it was just good ole adultery. Nothing unusual."

Henry studied her for a second.

"You seem rather disappointed by the fact," he observed.

"That's not the kind of case I was used to solving." A short pause. "I _am_ used to solving." There was a hint of satisfaction in her voice.

"Why take it then?" He was fully aware they were steering off the topic of the conversation but the temptation of knowing more about the woman who supposedly was his friend in the future won for a moment.

"I don't exactly get to pick. I have to earn my living, you know. When there is a client all I can hope for is that their check will go through in the end." There was a subtle edge of frustration detectable in her voice. Was the topic so delicate or was she simply irritated at needing to tell him things his future self already knew?

Before he could continue on the topic her cell rang.

"Vicki Nelson." She answered the call immediately after only a short glance at the caller's name. Only then she looked back to him and mouthed, "Excuse me."

"Vic! Where the hell are you?" A masculine voice on the other side of the line immediately questioned

"What's the matter, Mike?"

"You even have to ask? I went to your place to check on you after you dashed out of work the way you did and guess what? I found your apartment completely empty. I didn't even know if you've made it there from the station."

"Gee, Mike, chill, will you? I had some rest, felt better and went for a walk to clear my head."

"At this hour?"

"Well, it was a bit earlier when I went. I guess I lost track of time."

"You went wandering through the city at night. _Alone._ C'mon, Vicki, you know better than that."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Where has your mind been for the last few days? We're still looking for those muggers from last week. Remember? That girl with fatal internal injuries?"

"I'm _armed_, Mike. Stop treating me like I'm helpless."

"You said yourself you weren't at your best today. What if they found you?"

"I'd need to call an ambulance for them and fill out some paperwork. You know the procedures."

"I'm serious, Vicki."

"No kidding. But so am I."

"Did you even think that through? Remember out little talk today? For all we know you could be-"

"I'm not." She quickly cut in.

"You did the test?" In the man's voice Henry could detect relief and something else... regret?

"No.'

"How can you be sure then?"

"Oh c'mon, Mike don't you think I would know if I was?"

"No, I _don't_ think so. They wouldn't invent those tests if the women could tell without them."

The topic of the conversation suddenly became crystal clear to Henry. Now he had little doubt that whoever _Mike _was he was the one Vicki carried the scent of. He would have gladly given the two some privacy for the conversation but being so close in proximity it was impossible not to hear.

Vicki rolled her eyes.

"Trust me, Mike. I _would _know."

"Could you do the test though? Just to be sure?"

"Ugh. Fine. I'll go to the pharmacy on my way home. Happy?"

"Reasonably. I would be happier though if I knew you were safely at home."

"I'm not a five year old, _Celluci_."

"Oh, I know. They are infinitely easier to reason with."

"Maybe that's because you never grew up past that stage."

There was a sigh on the other side. "Just get the test and come home safely, okay?"

"Whatever."

"See you at work tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Bye, Vic."

"Yeah, see you."

She slipped the phone back into her pocket and turned to Henry.

"That was Mike," she informed in a dismissing tone as if the statement explained everything.

"I gathered that after you called him by that name. I still, however, remain oblivious as to who he is."

"Oh. Right. Sorry. For a moment there I've forgotten you didn't know." She sighed in frustration which he could only assume came from his lack of knowledge of the future. "He's my partner."

"Professionally, privately or both?"

"Professionally." She answered quickly and he raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, I guess you could say privately as well."

"You guess?"

"It's complicated."

"Isn't it always? Anything else I should know about him?"

"Well, you two have a tendency to squabble every time you talk for more than two minutes."

"We do? Good to know. You learn something new every day."

"Well, you will. I just remember that you do. Did. Will. Whatever." She grimaced, giving a clear indication she had enough of the topic. He could only oblige.

"Before we were interrupted, I believe we were trying to determine what exactly happened to cause your journey in time."

"Yeah. Unsuccessfully."

"So far we know it was unlikely that your case was involved. Was there anything else that might have been magical that you came into contact with?"

"Well, there was the stuff Coreen bought to decorate the office."

"Coreen?"

"My Goth assistant. Nice girl if a bit too perky."

"A Goth? Don't you think that..."

"Coreen was for the most part put off trying magic after a little voodoo incident." Henry's brows furrowed. This was just getting better. Apparently Vicki noticed his frown as she went to clarify. "As I said, she learned her lesson. I know that after Sandrine you're not a voodoo fan."

"I wasn't before either. You do know a bit, don't you?" To be honest, he was surprised how much.

"What did you expect? We are friends. We talk. And your stories happen to be much more interesting than mine."

"I see. So you are sure your assistant isn't responsible?"

"At least not directly. She focuses her gothic instincts on vampires mostly." She sent him a mischievous smile. "Or more precisely on hero-worshiping one vampire in particular."

"Does she? Thank you for the forewarning."

"You're welcome. As I said though, Coreen brought some yard sale stuff to the office. I think she attempted to add some gothic style to it."

"What kind of _stuff_ are we talking about here?"

"A couple of things. I assumed that some kind of theatre was clearing their storage room." She appeared to be lost in thought for a moment. "There was a vase, some kind of small chest, a picture of a raven, a candelabrum..."

"Any of that felt or looked odd?"

"Unless you used Goth standards, all of it. The candelabrum though..."

"What about it?"

"I know it will sound foolish but Coreen equipped it with a black candle and it looked less _fake_ when she did. But that might be just because blowing out the candle is one of my last thoughts before falling asleep."

"Interesting. Was the candle set within the candelabrum or was it something separate?"

"No idea. I didn't ask. I just assumed it was a normal candle. I mean, she does stupid things at times but she wouldn't..."

"Unless she assumed that it was a normal candle as well. Was there anything unusual about it?"

"I'm not sure if it counts as unusual but it was more like an ornamental one with a silver motive."

"Looking like?"

"Random postmodern drawing. Nothing recognisable."

"When was the last time you've seen a postmodern art?" He allowed himself an amused question. From what he gathered by now Victoria wasn't a person who displayed such interests.

"It might have been present in that gallery you dragged me to five years from now." She paused. "Did that sound as strange to you as it did to me?"

"One would expect keeping your tenses straight after time travel to be a tricky task."

"Right."

"I don't suppose you would be able to recreate the motive from the candle on paper?"

"Not even if I had the candle in front of me. You are the one with artistic talents."

"Too bad. I will look through a couple of books and see if I can find anything helpful."

"That would be great. Thanks." She paused and looked at her watch. "You could have told me I've been keeping you here for over two hours. You didn't have a chance to feed before I came."

Once again, Henry was taken by surprise. It seemed Victoria Nelson was full of them. From his experience the human friends he had in the past never approached the subject unless necessity arose and even then it was a careful play of euphemism and allusion. He didn't believe he had ever expected anyone to be this _blunt _about the subject. And judging by the signals coming from her it was not an act but the most natural reaction.

"The night is still young. I think I will survive." She stood up and he followed her suit, walking her to the door. "Would you be able to come tomorrow? Perhaps I will have found something by then."

"Sure, tomorrow it is. When? I don't want you to go hungry because of me two nights in a row."

She was definitely interesting. He wondered what her reaction would be if he reacted with similar openness.

"I don't exactly intend to go hungry tonight, you know."

"If you want to take your time playing with your food, just tell me. I go to sleep late anyway so an hour or two this or that way doesn't make that much of a difference." There were probably people out there who would be more unsettled talking about the weather.

"I believe an hour and a half after sunset will be fine."

"Okay. See you then. And bon appétit." With that she strolled to the elevator.

Henry looked after the female detective as she went. This was shaping up to be an interesting experience.

III

The next morning when the sound of her alarm clock tore her out of sleep, Vicki didn't open her eyes for a moment, trying to prepare herself for whichever reality, or rather time, she was going to wake up to. To her surprise, she suddenly discovered that she didn't know which she would actually prefer.

Finally she knew she couldn't procrastinate anymore and opened her eyes. She didn't even need to put her glasses on and bring the world into focus to realise that she was still in the past. Just the perceived field of vision sufficed to make that assessment. Funny how she never realised how much it had shrunk already and how much easier looking at everything was now.

She went through her morning routine hardly believing that she really was going to _drive _to work and then spend a day working at the station. She knew she missed it, true, but now she was feeling like an addict who was suddenly offered their fix in a guilt-free package.

Sipping her coffee she suddenly wondered if not finding a way out of this would be really so bad. Yesterday she was panicked and unsure if she wasn't going crazy but the way she saw it, this could be a chance to get a few more years of a job she loved without needing to give up anything or anyone she loved. Like Henry.

She stopped the thought abruptly, wondering how the vampire found his way into her thoughts all of a sudden. As far as the whole world was concerned, she was with Mike at the moment and she had to find a way out of that if she even wanted to consider anyone else.

Besides, she and Henry _were _friends last time she checked so there was no hurry for now. It's not like Mike deserved her backing out of what they had just because she knew it didn't work out. Hell, for all she knew she could make sure it did work out this time around. Especially since it seemed Henry was still somewhat distant when she talked to him. Of course the way she barged into his life might have something to do with that. And he _did _technically know her just for what, two hours?

She finished the coffee in one gulp and got ready to leave. She might not be able to figure out what was going through a certain vampire's mind but that didn't mean she had to be any less elated about a chance to be back in the life she loved.

III

When she got to the station Mike was already there. He smiled at her when he saw her enter.

"Hey, Vic."

"Hey yourself."

"Feeling better today?"

"Definitely. It was probably some food disagreeing with me."

"We both know one could probably find ostriches with more delicate stomach than yours."

"Very funny, Mike."

"Did you do the test?"

"For pity sake, Mike. Is that the best topic you could come up with first thing in the morning?"

"Did you?"

"What does it matter? I'm not. "

"So you say. Don't you think you owe it to me to check?"

"Mike, why in the hell..."

"You aren't getting any coffee until you do."

"What?! Mike, have you hit your head recently?"

"Well, since you don't want to check you get to be treated as if you were. Simple precaution."

"You're crazy." They engaged in a short staring contest.

"Am I?"

"Mike, be serious. I won't get through the day without coffee and you know it."

"Do the test and you won't have to."

"What, here, at work?"

"Why not? You promised you'd buy the test, right?"

"Yeah but..." Somehow Vicki let that detail conveniently slip her mind.

"And just in case I bought one for you. You do it and we'd be even for the embarrassment I went through buying it."

Vicki glared at him but unfortunately he seemed to be immune to it already.

"Fine." She said through gritted teeth.

"Glad you've seen the light." He opened the drawer in his desk and took out a small bag from the pharmacy. Thankfully it was not see-though. She might not have survived if it was. She grabbed the bag and walked off angrily.

III

The next couple of minutes were officially the most awkward in her life. But much as she hated to admit it, she knew that Mike wouldn't let go of the matter otherwise. And given what role he would have played in the whole matter she owed it to him to provide him something that would be more tangible evidence than her word.

When she left the bathroom, Mike was hovering next to the door.

"Tell me you've not been waiting here all that time."

"Okay, I won't tell you. What's the verdict?"

"I'm not." She pushed the test into his hand in case he wanted to see. "Can we forget about this topic now?"

"For good or until we actually want..."

"Mike." He caught the warning in her tone because he quickly looked away.

"Alright, Vic. You call the shots here."

"Thanks. Now can we do something we are supposed to? Like work on our case?"

"I thought you'd never ask. Want me to get you coffee?"

"You'd better."

III

After the admittedly embarrassing morning, things were looking up for Vicki again. Just being able to work at the station made her feel better, even if she didn't ever think about how much more freedom she had while working as a PI. Nevertheless being a cop was what she was made for and she was once again in her element.

Not to mention once they read through their current case files, she realised she remembered this one. Well enough to recall that last time around the killer got one more victim before they caught him. Just because she was enjoying being in the past didn't mean she couldn't use her knowledge of the future.

"You know what, Mike. There is something about that eyewitness statement..."

"What do you mean, Vicki?"

"It's just, doesn't it seem odd to you that the guy was wearing short sleeves while kidnapping the second girl? With this kind of weather it was almost as if he wanted to show off that scar."

"I see what you're getting. He probably wanted everyone to focus on that when describing him. But even if it was fake it doesn't get us any closer to solving this case."

"I know. But if it was on his right forearm it would have been harder for him to put it there. And I doubt he asked anyone for help."

"So he bought a fake scar from a gag store. Do you want us to go around to all the shops in the city and ask if they remember some guy, characteristically average looking, buying a fake scar?"

"The stuff from gag shops looks too fake to really fool people. Look at the shot from the surveillance camera. It looks more like something used in a movie."

"Is it? That blur barely has a human shape. It's impossible to see the scar at all."

"What can I say? Sometimes being nearsighted pays off. I'm used to reading blurry images and looking at things close up." She grinned at him. "I was thinking. Maybe we could check if any companies with professional characterisation products sent something to a private address in Toronto?"

"You know that's crazy, don't you, Vicki?"

"I just have a hunch."

"Okay, let's try that. It's not like we have any other options at the moment."

"Not to mention he might still have that girl."

"Hopefully. But the other three bodies were found within twenty four hours from the kidnapping and it's already been four days."

"As long as there is no body, there is still hope. Maybe something delayed him?" '_Like waiting for the shipment of mercury he wanted to use to torture the girl and which helped us track him down last time around.'_

"Let's hope you're right, Vic."

III

They watched as the man left the house and sat behind the wheel of a weathered sedan. Then they followed, always keeping a safe distance as he drove to the outskirts of the city.

"I'm not sure about this, Vic."

"No, Mike. I have a feeling we are on the right track." Vicki countered quickly. They were more than on the right track – they were in luck. The last time it took them two days of surveillance after finding the unfortunate victim of mercury poisoning before the guy went back to the place to prepare it for the next 'toy'. This time it took only two hours.

This precognition thing was really paying off.

"If you say so. But we will be more visible outside the city. Either he notices he has a tail or we risk losing him by increasing the distance."

"Give him a longer leash then. Wouldn't want him to catch onto the fact he's being followed."

"I hope you know what we're doing."

"So do I, Mike." She waited impatiently staring into the distance. "Look, he's going off the main road."

"Are you sure you're nearsighted? I wouldn't have noticed that road at this distance."

"C'mon, Mike. You know I wear contacts for the field work. Good ones at that. But I can give you the number of my optometrist if you honestly didn't catch that."

"No thanks, Vic. My eyes were just fine last time I checked."

"And when was that? Ten years ago?"

"Hey, if there's nothing wrong, no point trying to fix it. I'm not the one wearing jar bottoms here."

For a second Vicki felt the urge to switch on her automatic touchy-subject response before she realised she had no grounds to. This was the way she and Mike were used to joking once. Or rather now. Back when her eyesight was fine. Back before the diagnosis. Suddenly she realised how her sight became taboo when it came to any lighter conversation on Mike's part as soon as the thing with RP came out in the open. Some part of her was at the time grateful he never tried to joke about it and was irritated every time he touched on the subject in general. But right now she realised that she much preferred it this way – with no attempts to edit and no topics too sensitive to start.

Mike slowed down.

"That's his car behind those bushes, isn't it?"

"Actually I think the bushes are covering what is left of a garage but, yeah, that's the same car."

"Are we going in?"

"What, you came here for a hiking trip? Give our status and go to the front door. I'll see if there is any other way out of the house." She left the car and drew her gun.

"You have three minutes. If you don't meet me at the front I'm assuming you're covering the back door and we're coming in at the same time."

"Got it."

"If he's there we should probably call for backup."

"And wait here when he might be killing the girl? Besides, if we're wrong Crowley would have our hides."

"Here's the Vicki Nelson I know and love. Go. You have three minutes starting now."

She nodded and went to the building. It was more or less how she remembered it. A rundown house with cardboard substituting for glass in more than one window. Dirty paint and plaster falling off the walls. Something that was possibly a lawn once but now called forward an instinct to reach for a machete. The place was a nightmare to say the least and that's even without broaching on the subject of what went on inside.

She circled the house, noting with some satisfaction that her memory wasn't deceiving her and there wasn't a backdoor.

"And?" Mike whispered to her as soon as she reappeared from behind the building.

"It's the only way in. Shall we?"

Her partner nodded and knocked on the door harshly. "Metro PD! Open the door!"

They heard some noise inside but nobody seemed willing to answer the door. From somewhere inside the house they heard a muffled scream that was cut off abruptly.

"On three?" She asked quickly. And received a nod in reply. "One. Two..."

Mike kicked the door open, which in its current state wouldn't have been much of a challenge to the average kid, let alone a grown man. Weapons drawn they went in, checking room after room. There was no way around it – such was the procedure and Vicki couldn't go straight to the room where she remembered the victim being held. Good thing the house wasn't big enough to have more than a couple of rooms to check.

It didn't take long in reality, but Vicki could have sworn that an eternity passed before they came to the right door. When she pushed it open, she and Mike were greeted by the view of their suspect holding a pocket knife to the throat of a girl who was cuffed to a metal ring in the floor.

"Don't move or I'll kill her!" The man announced, looking at the two cops.

They had reached an impasse as it would seem – they had their guns pointed at the guy but couldn't do anything without risking the girl's life. Silently Vicki admitted that in situations like this knowing you had a backup from a vampire made things much easier. She couldn't believe how much she had gotten used to the thought that she could count on that.

Still, they had to think of something and fast.

"You know you won't get away. Give up now and the judge will take that into consideration at your trial." She heard Mike speaking and mentally winced. Was this really the best they had at their disposal at the moment?

"You really expect me to fall for that?" The guy spat back, the knife never leaving the girl's throat. She was conscious. Her eyes were wide open from fear. Her cheek sported a deep cut, undoubtedly from the same knife. This guy definitely wasn't afraid of drawing blood.

There had to be something more they could do. The wheels in her head were turning furiously. She remembered there was something about this guy... something she should be able to recall... that could help them.

She wished she could close her eyes to concentrate. The memory was almost there but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. _Something..._ the psychiatrist's opinion during the trial. Aside from the fact that the guy was a sadistic psychopath there was a mention there... The thoughts jumped into focus. A mention of a phobia he had since childhood.

She purposefully looked into the corner of the room and made sure she looked surprised and suddenly wary. Out of the corner of her eye, which was in itself a reason to love time travel, she saw she got the man's attention.

"We should get out of here before it slithers closer." She said to Mike. "It looks angry, who knows what it could do."

It didn't take more than five seconds for the guy to lose his focus and glance to the corner of the room. That moment was enough for Vicki to get closer and tackle him to her ground. His hostage screamed in fear and surprise but she was unharmed as the female cop disarmed the man. A quick search revealed the key to the cuffs in one of his pockets. She tossed it to Mike and proceeded to cuff the guy while reading him his rights.

A moment later Mike had the girl freed. He wrapped his coat around her and slowly helped her to her feet.

"By the way, Vic, '_get out before it slithers closer'_? Where the hell did that come from?"

"Hey, it worked, didn't it? C'mon let's call an ambulance for her. I think she is in shock."

"How did you figure that, Sherlock?" He muttered and turned to the girl again. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. You're safe now, okay?"

He led her out of the house while Vicki none too gently did the same with the assailant. She might be ecstatic that she could work on the force once again but that didn't mean she had to be delicate.

III

"Will you ever learn to follow procedure? He could have killed the victim after you barged in there like that." Crowley's rant always sounded the same no matter the time.

"We had reason to suspect that he went there with intention of killing her anyway. We couldn't afford to wait." Mike tried to counter under the captain's glare.

"What you did was risky and that same bravado used under similar circumstances next time could not only get the hostage killed but cost me two officers."

"It was necessary this time," Vicki stated firmly.

"I don't want to hear about such recklessness again, understood?" She measured them with her sight for a moment. "By the way, Nelson, Celluci, good work."

With that she strolled off before any of them could come out of shock enough to thank her.

"That was interesting. Do you think she's mellowing with age?"

"Somehow I truly doubt it. I'd be willing to bet you that in a couple of years she will still be the same old Crowley. She's just glad we got us good press."

"Another point for the infamous Victory Nelson hunches, huh?"

"Hey, we both know we were lucky there."

"Incredibly. But thanks to you, partner." He grinned. "How about we finish the paperwork and go for a drink to celebrate it?"

Vicki glanced at her watch. It was still relatively early so she had a lot time to kill. Not to mention she really did want to celebrate. She was a cop again, solving the cases even better thanks to what she remembered. She could see and it would stay that way for nearly three years, which might not be the miraculous cure she hoped for ever since the diagnosis but it was better than anything she had been offered. And to add to that she had her friendship with Henry, four years ahead of the schedule.

"Why not? I guess we've earned it."

No matter what caused this sudden time travel she had to admit one thing to herself. She was happy. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if no way to reverse the process was found? She for one certainly wouldn't complain.

III

Going out for a drink proved to be an interesting affair. While she somehow managed to avoid acknowledging the fact in her mind, save for one moment when it was brought up by Henry's question, she was only just now coming to realise that she and Mike were more than just friends. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if it wasn't for the fact that somehow she didn't quite feel the sparks between them anymore.

Theoretically she knew she would need to address the matter eventually. But she knew doing so too abruptly would be a blow for Mike and she didn't want to do something like that to her friend. Not to mention, sparks or not Mike _was_ a darned good kisser (and not only that if memory served) and neither of them seemed to have another option at the moment... It wouldn't hurt to just see where things would go for the next couple of days before she thought of a way to handle the matter one way or another.

She hardly even noticed how time was flying as they sat there talking and laughing. Finally Mike mentioned something about needing to go home and only then did she realise what hour it was.

It was a really good thing the person she had a meeting with next was unlikely to complain about the late hour of her arrival.

III

She knocked and a second later Henry opened the door.

"I was wondering if you were going to come." He stated calmly.

"Sorry. I guess I got a bit caught up with exploring possibilities." At his raised eyebrow she decided to elaborate. "I'm actually starting to enjoy the whole thing, you know. I'm back working as a cop, I can see properly and today I managed to stop a homicide from happening by solving a case sooner than I had last time. There are just so many possibilities..."

She noticed he didn't share her smile and chose to study her carefully instead.

"I assume you didn't leave the police out of your own will?"

Realisation that she slipped and might have let Henry in on the one secret she was planning to keep as long as possible before she needed to repeat her decision hit and she froze momentarily.

"I did," she said firmly.

"What you said a moment ago seemed to suggest otherwise."

_Why couldn't the damned vampire just let things go once every century? _

Vicki closed her eyes and sighed.

"No, I did leave on my own. But that was because I wouldn't be able to work as I did."

"Meaning?"

"That my eyesight got worse and if I cared for having a desk job I would have become a secretary instead of a cop."

"Something wrong with your eyes?"

She reached into her bag and fished out her spare pair of glasses which she waved meaningfully.

"If that doesn't stop you now, why would it stop you later?"

"Look, Henry, can we drop this topic? I'm sorry I was late but don't spoil my mood completely here, alright?"

"If that's what you wish. I apologise if my questions were uncomfortable for you." He smiled gently. "Perhaps I could atone for that by telling you that you very possibly saved not one but two people."

"How is that?"

"I called Delphine last night after you left and warned her about Mendoza. Hopefully it will be enough to save her from the fate you say she suffered in the future."

"Hopefully. So have you found something about what might have caused all this?"

"So far I'm afraid I had no luck. While there were a few mentions about journeys to the past there was nothing spontaneous about them."

"Oh. Well, too bad."

"You don't sound disappointed."

"I don't think I am. So far I've gotten used to the situation and have been rather enjoying myself. And just think how many things that went wrong I could correct. How many people I could save."

"I will admit that it is a noble cause, nevertheless I would be wary. If it was magic that brought you here, it may come with a cost you wouldn't be prepared to pay."

"Somehow I had a feeling you might say something like that. But I can't see what's so wrong about preventing bad things from happening."

"Sometimes things happen the way they need to and even if we might not see it, they turn out to be for the best in the end."

"So you are saying that I shouldn't try to change anything?" Vicki's voice rose voice suddenly. "Do you think Delphine deserved to be tortured and left chained to wait for the sunrise? If you think that was for the best perhaps you shouldn't have called her!"

When she saw him flinch at that, she regretted her outburst immediately.

"Henry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

He shook his head. "What I was trying to say, Victoria, was that you should be careful with owing the magic too much." He paused. "He tortured her?"

"You've met him before, I guess you know what he was capable of better than anyone. I'm sorry."

Henry stood for a minute unmoving, looking at the floor. Finally he looked up.

"Let us hope that none of that will come to pass now." He seemed to have shaken off the mood and looked at her again. "Please, forgive me, I seem to have been the most unobliging host. Do sit down. Would you like some wine? I'm afraid that's the only drink I have apart from water."

"Wine is fine. Thanks." A moment later she was handed a glass of a rich wine that probably cost more than she earned in a week.

"Would you tell me about your day?" He asked with a smile.

"Why?"

"I'm not sure if you realise, but you have a significant advantage of knowing a bit about me. I can't say the same about you and this seems like a good way to rectify the problem."

"It's not like my day was all that fascinating."

"I'm sure it was much more so than mine so perhaps you should proceed all the same." He smirked at her.

"Fine. Have it your way."

As she started to relay a bit edited version of the events of the day she couldn't help but notice that while Henry seemed friendly enough all this time the sparkles once present in his eyes seemed irrevocably gone. Or rather never appeared there in the first place. She could not tell what could have happened to cause that but she was sure of one thing. She missed it already.

III

The next morning Vicki had to admit she had mixed feelings about being happy with her situation. And not even for good reasons. She had to admit to herself that she never before spared much thought to the fact that when she was her own boss, she could afford to go to work a bit late if she spent a good part of the previous night with a certain vampire. Now that was not an option.

She dragged herself out of bed and, silently cursing everything from sunlight to how weak her coffee was that morning, she got ready for work.

As soon as she arrived at the station she was in her element again though. She strode to her desk happily, enjoying the fact that it was still _her _desk. She had her desk here. She worked at the station. She couldn't imagine if there could be another place for her that would seem so _right._

She waved at Mike before she opened the first case file on her desk, trying to remember if she could recall anything about it that would help them now without being too obvious.

"Hey, Vicki. Are you feeling alright?" She heard her partner's voice suddenly beside her.

"Mike. Why wouldn't I be? I thought we agreed that topic was closed yesterday morning."

"_That _topic was closed. You look tired though and we finished pretty early yesterday. You have circles under your eyes for God's sake."

"Well maybe if a certain someone didn't take me for a drink yesterday, I wouldn't have lain awake last night thinking about how well he kissed." Vicki shot back suggestively and internally flinched at how fake it felt to say that. It wasn't that Mike didn't kiss well, not at all, but...

"I'm sorry to hear that. Because it seems I may be forced to stop kissing you for your own good."

"Now, let's not make any hasty decisions here, shall we? It's entirely possible that I drank too much coffee after all."

"All things considered I think I liked the first version better." He dragged a chair to her desk. "So which one are we looking into first today?"

"I'm thinking the Mortimer Green one." _'Seeing how the last time our suspect skipped town before we figured it out'_ "Then we can move to the warehouse shooting."

"Green? Why not. If a guy chokes on feathers in the middle of a swimming pool, there must be an interesting story somewhere in there."

"So we agree. Now let's get to work."

III

It was already past their working hours when Vicki sighed and closed the file on her desk.

"I think we are done for today. We'll start tomorrow with clear minds."

"Well, I guess we made enough progress today to afford a free evening. Speaking of which, what would you say if we went to my place, relaxed a bit after work..."

Vicki froze. That, she realised, was an offer her former self would probably have jumped at. But somehow it didn't feel remotely as appealing now even if she knew she was in a position where that would only seem normal. And it wasn't like Mike wasn't good looking...

"Sorry, not tonight. I learned a couple days ago that an old friend of mine lives in Toronto. I'm meeting him this evening."

"Old friend, huh?"

"Yeah. The oldest I have." So what if 'old' referred to the actual age and technically, if one didn't count her memories, they only met two days ago? "If you'd believe it, he actually draws comic books."

"Comic books? Interesting friends you have, Vic."

"Hey, it's not as bad as it sounds. He's pretty normal, you know." _'For a vampire'_

"If you say so."

"Mike, if I knew you wanted..."

"Hey, it's fine. You're probably going to be Molly's new hero. She wanted to go out to dinner with Richard to celebrate the anniversary of their engagement but she didn't have anyone to leave Dylan with. Now that I know I'm free this evening I might as well volunteer."

"Great, so not only did I shoot you down but I also land you with a job of a nanny? I couldn't have plotted your misery better if I tried."

"It's not _that _bad. The kid is pretty well behaved and goes to sleep early. I'll just probably try to catch some movie on TV when he does."

"If you say so. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, first thing tomorrow. Have fun meeting your friend."

"Thanks."

Somehow, even after the weird triangle her non-existent love life was shaping into in the future, she never felt that bad about balancing between Mike and Henry. And this time she was officially with Mike and Henry didn't even seem interested in taking things further. It wasn't that she didn't _care _for Mike. She did. Only...

Her life was officially insane.

III

Vicki took her time getting home after work. She was in no hurry with sunset not even close yet and she wasn't particularly looking forward to locking herself inside four walls with her thoughts on how her perspective on the relationship with Mike shifted sometime during the five years.

If anything, that was a topic she would love to push out of her mind altogether. Not that she was particularly successful. To fend off the persistent thoughts she decided to treat herself to a good dinner out. It didn't help.

She welcomed the sunset as it promised a distraction she badly needed. She went home to change – not that she really needed to but it gave her something to do while providing Henry with an hour to go out and feed. Still she arrived to his condo a bit earlier than she planned.

She pounded on the door. A second later it opened to reveal Henry with a small smile playing on his lips.

"Have I lost track of time that badly or did we actually agree to meet this early?" He asked with a slight teasing undertone in his voice.

"I figured that if you were still out I would just wait until you came back. I imagine you would want more than an hour if you planned to bring one of your snacks here." He lifted an eyebrow at her in amusement and gestured her inside.

"May I ask what brought you here at this time then?"

"I needed someone who wouldn't think I'm crazy if I say the whole time travel thing is driving me mad."

"Yesterday you seemed content with the way things were."

"Oh, the bigger picture is alright. I still haven't changed my mind about that. But the way I need to interact with people always trying to think on what terms we were five years ago, I mean now, or getting my facts straight... Just today I quoted a line from a movie while talking to Mike, one that I remember he liked, only to remember that the movie was actually coming out next year."

"Will it make you feel any better if I tell you that I still catch myself viewing certain things as I would as a prince?"

"Not really. That only shows that even four and a half centuries isn't enough to get over it completely. I'm doomed."

"I wouldn't say that. In five years you'll catch up with the events and will be able to go on with your life as if this journey never happened."

"Yeah, with two different sets of memories from those five years. Perfectly normal. As long as you have schizophrenia."

"I'm certain you will find a way to adjust with time." He paused. "You mentioned that you treat people differently now. I'm curious, does the rule extend to me as well?"

"Yeah, because I obviously _knew you_ now and I have a habit of knocking on the door of absolute strangers and informing them that I came from the future."

"From the little bit that I managed to get to know about you I wouldn't be overly surprised if you did, as long as you believed it would serve some purpose." He somehow managed to ignore her sarcasm and keep a perfectly straight face while saying that.

"Henry." She was about to glare at him when she realised that she wasn't completely truthful. "Alright, there may be a few areas where we aren't like we were... Like we're going to be, anyway. But I guess I should at least let you get used to me being around before saying anything more."

"Even if I asked you to? What are you hiding about our relationship, Victoria?"

"Nothing big. And I do fill in the gaps when you ask me. There are just a few things that were so natural back then and now don't seem to even apply."

"What things?" He pressed on. Vicki wasn't about to get into too much detail over that one though. She couldn't lie, he would notice that immediately, but she didn't have to share what she really had in mind while saying that.

"No, it's stupid, really. You know, then, you used to help me with my cases sometimes. Not really possible now since I'm back on the force. We used to watch stupid horror movies with you offering a commentary of how idiotically the vamps were depicted... I miss it a bit."

"Well, the latter actually sounds like an intriguing idea. If you select something we haven't seen yet according to your memory we could do that tomorrow." Even though his smile didn't carry any emotions more than amicable, she almost melted at its sight.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Agreed then. As for our plans for tonight, may I offer you a drink? I still have that bottle of wine you seemed to enjoy yesterday."

"Thank you, that would be nice."

"And you can, of course, feel free to vent any further frustrations stemming from your predicament."

"I think I'd rather forget about it for a while. Is it a bad sign if the time I spend with a vampire prince seems the most normal part of my day?"

"I wouldn't say _bad_." He handed her a glass of promised wine. "But it certainly shows what a unique person you are."

"Thanks, I think." She took a sip. "So, are you working on any interesting book ideas right now?"

III

Vicki had just started to relax when her cell rang interrupting her light conversation with Henry. She briefly glanced at the caller ID before taking the call.

"What's up, Mike?" She asked and was met with silence. She decided to try again. "Mike?"

"Vicki." Her name was almost choked out and then silence fell again. Something was wrong, that much was for sure.

"Mike, talk to me. What happened?"

"Could you... Could you come to the station?" His voice was breaking as he spoke which was definitely not a good sign. "I need you."

"Sure. Could you tell me what happened though?"

"It's Molly."

"Molly? What about her?"

"There was a car accident."

"Car accident?" She echoed his words. If Mike's sister was injured, he would be in hospital right now. In fact, the only reason that news would bring him to the station.... "Wait, are you telling me...?"

"Please, just come to the station, Vic."

"Sure, I'm on my way. I'll see you in twenty minutes."

"Thank you." With that he hung up and Vicki was left staring at the phone. She felt a hand on her shoulder. "This cannot be right. It was not supposed to happen."

"Sometimes we have no saying in what is written for us."

"No, Henry. You don't understand. This was _not supposed to_ happen. In the future I remember, Molly is still alive and well five years from now!"

"Perhaps something happened to alter the course of events that inadvertently changed her fate as well?"

"But the only thing that changed was that I have my memories from the future. I'm the only... Oh, God. I told Mike I had plans for the evening so he went to watch over Dylan. If I said yes, she would be still at home with her son."

"It's not your fault, Victoria."

"How can you say that? It _is_ my fault. I could have gone with Mike tonight. I didn't and it cost him his sister. I could have very well murdered her."

"You had no way of knowing what was going to happen. If this happened five years from now when you didn't know what was and what wasn't supposed to happen, would you still blame yourself like that?"

"It's not five years from now, though. I know the future. I was hoping to save lives thanks to that and instead I ended up being the cause of Molly's death!"

"Unless I am mistaken it was a car accident not you that was the cause." He disappeared for a moment and came back wearing a jacket and holding Vicki's to her. "We need to be going though if you want to keep your word about the time of your arrival."

"_We_ need to be going?"

"You weren't expecting me to let you drive with how distraught you are at the moment and after you just drank alcohol?"

"It was just a glass. That's nothing."

"For an officer of law you seem surprisingly lenient when it comes to yourself obeying the rules."

"I'll need my car tomorrow morning. I can't leave it at your place."

"Then I'll drive your car. I fail to see the problem."

"Alright. Do you even know how to drive to the station?"

"I believe so. Of course you will be there to point me in the right direction if my belief proves to be an ungrounded one."

She sighed and allowed him to help her into the jacket. Somehow she couldn't shake off the feeling that what used to seem just a bizarre dream turned into a nightmare just a couple of minutes ago.

She felt a reassuring hand around her arms.

"Henry?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks. For coming with me."

"What friends are for?"

"Still, thanks. For everything, really."

III

Giving Henry the car keys felt a bit strange to Vicki. Not only was there an awkward feeling of showing him her car when she knew all too well what kind of car he was used to driving but there was another feeling somewhere in the back of her mind. A feeling she almost didn't recognise. Or maybe was not willing to recognise.

Concentrating on it in hopes of putting it to focus, she suddenly felt that her time behind the wheel would soon end and the act of handing over her keys seemed in a way symbolic. Symbolic in a way she didn't really care to acknowledge. In a way she wasn't ready to acknowledge, really.

It almost felt as if the shackles of her approaching blindness were snapped closed, binding her again with no way of escaping this time.

Struggling with those thoughts she somehow managed to get to the car. Henry, ever a gentleman, opened the door for her and then looked at the passenger seat with curiosity that almost bordered amusement.

Following his gaze, Vicki immediately spotted his book that still occupied the seat after her trip to the bookstore two days ago. She quickly swiped it from the seat and placed it in the glove compartment. She took a seat without a word and waited until Henry settled in the driver's seat. He still looked at her a bit strangely.

"What?" She finally had enough.

"Please, forgive me, Vicki. I was taken by surprise. I did not expect you to have one of my books in your car."

"If you really must know, I bought it the day I came back. I couldn't very well call you about noon and ask you if I wasn't crazy and if I didn't make you up, could I?"

"Technically, you could. You just wouldn't have gotten the desired answer. Or perhaps you would, depending on how reassured you would be at reaching my voicemail."

"Why hadn't I thought of that? The whole time travel must have had me confused." Suddenly that statement had the awareness of recent events hit her again full force. "But I guess we should be going."

"Yes, we should. Tell me if I'm going the right way."

She only nodded to that.

III

The station was probably one of the most recognisable places for Vicki. If anything, it was fighting for the first place in that category with her apartment. Still, she felt a cold wave of unfamiliarity wash over her as she stepped out of her car.

Right now, as she was approaching the building that even after she left the force felt almost like a second home, she was petrified with the knowledge that she had absolutely no idea what to expect once she was inside.

She felt Henry's familiar presence beside her and in that moment she was truly grateful he was there. She had no idea if she would have even managed to get inside if it wasn't for him.

They moved through the dark building, somehow never more intimidating during a night shift than now, until they reached Mike's desk. The detective was standing next to it, his hands on the desk as if he hoped the gesture would support him. In his chair a little boy was drowsing.

"Hey, Mike. I'm here." Hearing the sound of her voice, he looked up. Not knowing what more to do she closed the distance between them and pulled him into a hug. It took a while before she felt him withdraw from it.

"Thanks for coming, Vic. I know you had plans." His gaze travelled over her arm to Henry standing on the verge of the shadows.

"Well, yeah, Mike, this is my friend Henry Fitzroy. Henry, this is Mike Celluci." She made the introductions quickly and saw Henry nod at the detective. Then she turned back to her partner quickly. "What happened, Mike?"

"I don't know the details yet. From the initial assessment, the driver of a car travelling the opposite way fell asleep behind the wheel. He is in the hospital right now but maybe he'll be able to give his account later. His car changed lanes and crashed into Molly and Richard's car. I got the call about twenty minutes later when the team called to the accident found my name as a contact. I didn't have anyone to leave Dylan with so I brought him here with me and called you."

"Wait. Richard as well?"

"Yeah. Listen, could you watch over Dylan? You know I need to go downstairs to do the identification and I'd rather not take the kid there."

"Sure, Mike. Does he know what happened?"

"Not yet. I think he suspects something, he kept asking where Mommy and Daddy were but I haven't figured out how to tell him yet."

At that moment Dylan stirred and opened his sleepy eyes.

"Hey, buddy, why don't you try to sleep some more? I need to go for a moment but Aunt Vicki will stay here with you, okay?" Mike said in a forcefully cheerful tone.

The kid's eyes focused on Vicki for a second.

"Hi, Aunt Vicki."

"Hi, Dylan. So how about going to sleep while Uncle Mike goes to do some things here?" She tried to signal with her eyes that Mike could go now and she'd try to deal with the situation. He mouthed a thank you at her and left.

"Can't sleep."

"All boys your age sleep at this hour."

"The chair isn't very comfy."

"Can't say you don't have a point." Vicki looked at the offending chair critically. "So what would you like to do?"

"I don't know. Auntie?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know where Mommy and Daddy are? Uncle Mike wouldn't tell me."

"Well, I guess we'll talk about it when he comes back. Perhaps you'd like to draw something?" '_Children like to draw, right?'_ She quickly went to her desk and retrieved a few blank sheets of paper and two pencils.

"I can't really draw nice." The kid sounded even more upset. She sent a pleading look at Henry.

"Perhaps you just never learned how to do it?" The vampire approached them so quietly that if she didn't see him come closed she would have sworn he appeared next to them out of thin air. "Will you let me teach you?"

"You would?" Dylan's eyes widened with wonder.

"Of course." Henry took one of the pencils, motioning the child to take the other. "Now what would you like to draw?"

III

When Vicki saw Mike coming back she could swear her partner managed to somehow become paler than the vampire present.

"How are you feeling?" She whispered coming closer to him.

"As well as could be expected. I thought that after seeing so many bodies I would be somehow prepared for that. It turned out I wasn't. To think that just a few hours ago I saw them alive, leaving the house, laughing..."

"I know it was hard, Mike. You are still doing great, all things considered."

"I will need to tell Dylan."

"Yeah, you probably will." She glanced at Mike's desk where Henry was teaching the kid something. The child's laugh sounded unexpectedly, a bizarre sound in the situation. "And you probably should do that soon before he overhears anything by accident."

"Your friend seems to have a way with kids."

"He does, doesn't he? I think Dylan likes him."

"Yeah. I wish I was that good with children. Especially now considering..."

"You're taking Dylan in?"

"Well, when it comes to his immediate family it's me or my grandmother who barely remembers to feed her cat once a day. Even I'm more qualified than that."

"I think you might prove better than you are giving yourself a credit for."

"I hope you are right."

Just then Dylan looked up and saw them talking. "Uncle Mike!" he exclaimed quickly.

"Hey, buddy. What were you so busy with?"

"Henry was teaching me how to draw." The boy informed proudly before his face grew more serious. "Uncle Mike, where are Mommy and Daddy?"

Mike closed his eyes for a second, apparently trying to collect his thoughts. He came closer to the desk and kneeled on one knee to be at the boy's eye level.

"Dylan... Mommy and Daddy are gone."

"Gone? Gone where?" The innocence of the question all but broke Vicki's heart. Suddenly it didn't matter that they actually had been trained how to handle situations like that. All she knew was that Mike shouldn't have been forced to pass that information onto his nephew.

"They went to heaven, you know." Mike's voice was shaking slightly as he spoke but he seemed determined to stay calm for the boy's sake.

"When are they coming back then?"

"They... they aren't. They can't come back once they go there."

"But why would they leave me here?" The boy was crying now. "Don't they love me? Why wouldn't they rather stay with me?"

"Dylan, I'm sure they love you very much. It's just..."

"No they don't! They left me! Why would they leave me if they loved me?"

"Dylan, please, understand. Mommy and Daddy are in a much better place now..."

"Then why didn't they take me with them?

"It's not so easy..." Mike seemed lost and suddenly, to Vicki's surprise, the vampire prince came to his rescue.

"Dylan, your parents loved you very much. So much, in fact, that Heaven decided that they had so much love for you that it didn't fit into their bodies. So they were changed into angels so they could love you as much as they wanted, protect you and watch after you."

The boy sniffed. "But why did they leave me if they loved me then?"

"I'm sure it wasn't easy to leave you here. But they knew that you have a wonderful uncle who will look after you and that they would be able to take care of you now in the ways they would never be able to otherwise. They might not be visible to you anymore but I assure you, they now can be with you anytime, anyplace as long as you need them."

"They can?"

"Of course they can. If you close your eyes and concentrate really hard you'll be able to feel their presence next to you."

Instantly the boy snapped his eyes closed, giving Mike an opportunity to cast a grateful look at Henry.

"I think I can feel them." They heard a whisper from the kid and Vicki saw the vampire smile faintly.

"I knew you would. Just remember, from now on, every time you want to feel them close to you just close your eyes and think of them."

"I will." The boy nodded and yawned.

"You are tired. Why don't you go to sleep?"

"I can't sleep."

"I'm sure you can."

Sensing a moment when she could actually be useful Vicki approached her partner.

"Mike? How about we go make ourselves some coffee. I have a feeling you might need it tonight."

"Vicki, I'm not sure..."

"You look like you could use it. And Henry seems to be doing a good job looking after Dylan so perhaps we should leave it to him to sing the kid a lullaby or _something_." In fact she had a pretty good idea of what the something might mean.

"Perhaps you're right, Vic."

III

Some time passed before they were ready to leave the station, with Mike cradling his nephew sleeping in his arms.

"I still don't know how you managed it. I didn't think I would be able to get him to sleep at all, let alone this peacefully." Mike addressed Henry in a whisper as Vicki opened the door of his car so he could place the boy in the backseat.

"I guess I'm just lucky."

"Or you are brilliant with kids. Do you have any of your own?" If Vicki didn't know Henry well she wouldn't have noticed the minute stiffness before he answered the question.

"No, I don't. If I were really gifted in this, it would be a gift very seriously misplaced."

"Why? Not planning to have any?"

"My plans have very little to do with the matter. It's pointless though so please, let's change the subject."

Mike stared at the vampire for a second before nodding.

"I'm sorry I pried. Still, I'm grateful for your help tonight. Thank you for that."

"You are welcome, Detective."

"Please, it's Mike. Under the circumstances I guess there is no need for formalities." He saw Henry nod and turned to Vicki. "I took the next few days off to deal with everything but I was wondering if you'd meet me for lunch tomorrow."

"Sure. Will you be bringing Dylan?"

"Nah, I thought about it but it would probably be better for him if he goes to kindergarten as usual instead of being at home in the middle of all the arrangements."

"All right. I'll see you at lunch then?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Vic."

"No problem."

The detective opened the car door and slid into the driver's seat but before he shut the door he looked at Henry once again. "It was nice meeting you, Henry. Despite everything."

"Likewise, even if I share the wish the circumstances had been different."

With that Mike nodded at them and drove off, leaving them next to Vicki's car in the parking lot.

"I would have never thought this from your description of our relationship but I actually like him." The vampire broke the silence.

Vicki found herself smiling a bit sadly at that. "You know, the last time I heard you declare that, it was followed by a promise to draw him eaten by hellhounds."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not saying you despised each other or anything like that. You just weren't very good at staying conventionally civil for long."

"Interesting. I suppose circumstances affect one's views and impressions."

"Yeah, they probably do." She stared in the direction where Mike's car disappeared a moment before. "This shouldn't be happening. Molly and Richard... If I only agreed to go with Mike tonight."

"You had no way of knowing."

"Still, I can't help but think that if I only did... I thought that this whole back to the past thing would let me help. So far I may have helped save two lives but I also caused two people to die." She noticed Henry stared at her speculatively. "What?"

"I'm not sure but what you just said may have some significance in solving the mystery of how you found yourself in the past. I shall look into it after I get you home. Ready to go?"

"I guess."

She dragged herself to the car and slumped heavily in the passenger seat as Henry held the door for her. Seconds later he was already starting the engine.

III

Detective Victoria Nelson seemed to be more intriguing the more you got to know her. At least this was the opinion Henry reached over the two nights after she so unexpectedly barged into his life. With every moment he spent with her it became clearer why he might have become friends with her.

As he escorted Vicki to her apartment after leaving the police station he had an opportunity to observe yet another facet of the intricate personality of the woman. One he might not even expect to perhaps not exist but be shown to anyone.

When they entered her apartment, she threw over her shoulder an invitation for him to make himself at home and immediately went to pour herself a drink. He frowned, for a second suspecting that he might have found a chink in her armour, a flaw in her personality in the form of solving problems with alcohol but after two initial gulps she slowly swirled the liquid in the glass. Then the tears came.

"I can't take this, Henry. How can I deal with knowing that I effectively took their lives? That I cost Mike a sister and very possibly ruined his life in the process?" She took a small sip from the glass. "What am I supposed to do now? I'm not even sure if I can live the next two years without changing anything. It's not like I remember every little decision I made in that time. I certainly didn't remember going out with Mike yesterday. What's next? I forget I was supposed to pick up groceries one day and end up killing my mother in the process?"

"This was an accident, Vicki. There is no saying if the situation would repeat itself. It might be a coincidence."

"Coincidences don't kill people. People kill people. Trust me on that one, it could very well be the motto of our division for the number of times it proved true." Another sip. "In this case it comes down to the fact that my wrong decision meant somebody's death."

"You can't blame yourself. Your decision in no way affected what happened. Just because you know things might have gone differently doesn't mean you are responsible for the fact."

"And would you say that to Dylan, who now has to grow without his parents?"

"You aren't responsible for the fate of everyone you meet, Victoria. Besides, you took more direct action before and saved lives as well."

"So what? I saved two lives, caused two deaths, statistically my record is clean?"

"That's not what I meant. But I will need to speak with a friend of mine. This balance might be nothing but a coincidence but I would like to be sure it doesn't indicate anything."

"Oh God. So now I will have to be careful not to save anyone I didn't before, despite knowing what might happen to them so that I don't accidently kill anyone else."

"Not necessarily. It was just a theory. We don't even have much to support it so far. Only if the suspicion proves grounded will we need to face that problem. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Okay. Perhaps you're right. It's just, the thought that I was the reason why Molly hadn't spent this evening playing with her son, perfectly safe at home..."

More tears came but she put away her drink and simply sat shaking slightly. Not seeing anything else he could do, Henry embraced her waiting for the sobs to subside. Eventually the female detective fell asleep in his arms.

He scooped her up from the couch and easily located her bedroom. He placed her on the bed, gently took off her shoes and jacket and covered her with a blanket. Glancing at her cheeks he suddenly noticed curled contact lenses that must have been washed out by her tears.

Thinking for a second he went to her bathroom, found what seemed to be a container for the lenses and a bottle featuring the same symbol it carried. Carefully reading the instructions on the bottle, not bothering to turn on the light for fear of waking the woman, he tried to follow the steps placing the lenses he slid from her cheeks in the container. Then he smiled to himself. It seemed that friendship with Vicki was providing one new experience after another. Briefly he wondered if things were like that when he met her later.

Quickly writing a note he placed on her nightstand he decided that for the good of everyone he should try to verify the latest theory as soon as possible. He hoped Maurice wouldn't mind a visit from an old friend despite the late hour.

III

When Vicki awoke the next morning she honestly hoped the whole trip to the past was nothing but a dream and she would open her eyes to shrinking vision and the life of a PI. No such luck. While her vision might have been a bit blurry, she could definitely see too wide an area to hope for a dream.

Dreading facing the day she dragged herself out of bed and to the bathroom. If she managed to get through this day it would be a miracle.

III

She honestly didn't know what to expect from the lunch with Mike. He texted her asking if she wouldn't mind meeting in their once favourite joint but other than that she had no way of preparing herself for what she might have to face.

When she got to the place, he was already there. Dressed in dark shirt, pale and with dark circles under his eyes he looked like a shadow of his usual self.

"Hey, Mike. How are you holding up?"

"Hi, Vic. As well as could be expected. I guess it all sunk in this morning."

"Listen, if you need any help at all..."

"I think I will manage. Thanks though." He paused. "I don't know if I will ever manage to get things back to normal, Vic."

"I'm sure it will take some time and with Dylan some things are going to be a bit different now but you will. I know you, trust me."

"Thanks. And about Dylan... There was another thing I wanted to talk to you about."

"Shoot. If there is anything I can do..."

"It's not that easy, Vicki. Last night I did some thinking. I would never be able to give Dylan what he needs to feel like a normal kid."

"Sure you will. You're a great guy."

"If you say so. But that still doesn't make me able to give him a whole family."

"Single parents deal with raising kids all the time. Hell, look at my mom. I'm sure it wasn't easy but she managed to do a decent job."

"Yeah, but it was your mom. No matter how hard I try I will never be able to substitute for a mother." He took a preparatory breath. "Listen, Vic, I know my timing couldn't possibly be worse, but we've already been together for a while and..."

"Mike? What?" Suddenly Vicki was hit by full blown panic. "You're not trying to..."

"Please, Vicki." He seemed ready to backtrack from the idea for fear of scaring her. "I don't want to force anything on you. But we _are _an item and... if you don't want anything permanent now you could just move in and see if it works... I know it seems my reasons are all wrong right now but..."

"Give me a second, Mike, okay?" Vicki cut in and saw him nod.

Perhaps his reasons _were _all wrong. He certainly never proposed anything like that last time, let alone gave any indication he wanted to _propose _propose. But Mike was right – Dylan would need a mother. Granted, she was probably the worst person for the role Mike could find but she was the only candidate at the moment. Just last night she was thinking how because of her action Dylan would have to grow up without a mother. Because she didn't feel like spending the evening with Mike. It felt like some giant karmic joke, except she was rather sceptical on the whole issue of the existence of karma in the first place. Still, she was now in a position to give Dylan back at least some semblance of what was taken away from him because of her. So what if the reasons were wrong – at least it made her and Mike even.

She swallowed in hopes of regaining the ability to speak.

"You know, I think it would be even worse for Dylan if I moved in on a trial basis. He will need stability not something like this." Mike looked down at that and she felt grateful that she didn't need to meet his eyes saying what she was about to. "No trials then. I agree. To the whole deal."

His head snapped up and he looked at her searchingly as if trying to make sure he heard right. She tried to smile but with the way her face felt right now she couldn't be sure if it didn't look more like a grimace.

"I'm keeping my name though. That one is non-negotiable." That finally seemed to have convinced him. He stood up, rounded the table and kneeled before her. "Mike, don't make a scene, please. I already said yes, didn't I?"

A smile appeared for a second on his tired face. "I should have figured you wouldn't go for anything romantic." He slid a small ring on her finger. "Thank you, Vicki."

"Yeah, well. You know, you should get up from the floor. You don't even want to think about what might have been spilled here."

He stood up and looked at her seriously. "We will need to talk about it if it's supposed to work, you know."

"I know. But for now let's say we'll deal with that next week when everything settles a bit, okay?"

"Maybe you're right. I don't think I really have a clear enough head for that now."

"There you go. But I was serious before, you know. If you need any help, just tell me."

"No, I'm dealing with it. If you can believe it, it's therapeutic in a way. Organising funeral arrangements offers you some closure and at the same time doesn't allow you to dwell too much on it all."

"If you say so." She glanced at her hand catching the unfamiliar sparkle. "Now, do you feel like actually eating something?"

"Not really. But I probably should and I'm guessing you're hungry too, so let's go on and order."

III

Vicki asked Henry to meet her at her apartment, figuring that way she was less likely to chicken out about facing him. She had no idea what to expect from him. She could make a guess or two how _her _Henry would react to the news of her engagement with Mike. Neither of the mental pictures was particularly pretty. This new, or rather old Henry remained an enigma when it came to that though.

She was sitting on her sofa, staring numbly at the ring on her finger that by now was probably firmly burned into her retina, when Henry entered.

"Good evening, Vicki."

"Hi." That just about summed up her ability to speak at the moment. Henry had apparently followed her earlier gaze and was now looking at her hand.

"I don't believe you were wearing that yesterday night." He stated calmly.

"Yeah. Well, I guess Dylan might not be forced to grow up without a mother after all, for all I can do to combat my incompetence when it comes to filling the role."

To her astonishment, _this _Henry actually smiled with a certain dose of understanding.

"I believe congratulations are in order then."

"Yeah, well, not that the circumstances are particularly happy."

"I've seen people getting married in the middle of wars, epidemics and other tragedies. That people understand that such binds are meant to share not only happiness but also hardships is important and perhaps it is what made those unions more true and lasting than other."

For a good half minute Vicki was absolutely speechless. Finally she managed to find her voice.

"Let's hope that will be the case then."

"I'm sure it will be." He smiled again making the situation even more bizarre. "On another note, I asked a friend of mine about our theory from yesterday and after inquiring about a few more particulars of the phenomenon he managed to find a possible explanation."

"What explanation?"

Henry opened a leather-bound book that she only now realised he was holding. Inside was a drawing of a candle covered with strangely familiar lines.

"I don't suppose it will come as much of a surprise if I say I saw that candle before?"

"Perhaps not this particular one. There is a spell, called, in rough translation, light of the past."

"Light, hence the candle?"

"Yes. The lines are supposed to provide easier flow of the energy channelled through but the candle can be any you can buy in a shop."

"You know, I've lit and blown my share of candles in my life and this is the first time something like that happened."

"I'm fairly sure there wasn't much of a chance that any of them was enchanted with this spell. It's a tool for the desperate and some of the components needed are rather hard to obtain."

"How desperate exactly are we talking here? What does it do?"

"Basically exactly what you had already a chance to observe. It allows you to change an event in the past. The longer the candle is burning before you blow it out, the further back you are able to go."

"I still don't see the 'desperate' part."

"There always needs to be a balance maintained. Or, if you will, every action causes an equal reaction. If you save someone from falling someone linked to you will trip and fall instead. If you save a life..."

"So it _was _my fault. Molly and Richard."

"Hardly. You didn't know what you were dealing with. Not idly is this spell considered a tool for the desperate. Only if one is convinced things took the worst possible course would they normally dare to try this method. Only if they are certain that whatever might have happened would be better than what actually occurred."

"What am I to do then? I can't live with such responsibility. Am I supposed to decide who deserves to live more now?"

"No. Nobody should be handed such a choice. It's the lure of magic that it would seem to hand you the power over human fate. But in truth it would be nothing more than a snare, leading your soul into a trap of either accepting the events you might have changed and the consequences of avoiding the fate as you know it on your conscience or otherwise desensitising your soul to anything that might result from your actions either way. Either of those is nothing but a path leading to losing yourself in false belief to be a swayer of human fate and therefore above any authority other than your own. And such a notion is but a step away from permanently surrendering your soul."

"So what do you propose? It seems there is no real option available from where I'm standing."

"First of all, whatever may be, try to make your choices with no regard to your prior knowledge of the future. You have no way of knowing if, and if so to what degree, your actions have affected it. Accepting that future may be as unknown to you as it is to any of us may give you an escape from the trap. And then there is a chance for nullifying the spell."

"Nullifying as in?"

"Reversing the spell completely."

"Is that even possible?"

"That depends. If the candle that was used already exists in this time then doing so should be surprisingly easy."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then there isn't much we'd be able to do."

"Okay, let's assume, for arguments sake, as it's the much more comforting thought, that the candle is somewhere out there. What would we need to do?"

"Obtain it and throw it into flowing water. Magic in general and this spell in particular are known for this weakness. That should, at least in theory, make the spell powerless, hence rendering it useless in the future."

"That sounds like a time paradox to me."

"Wouldn't you agree that such paradoxes can only be discussed where logic, the opposite and eternal rival of magic is concerned?"

"Perhaps you're right. But even if you are, where do we find the candle? We don't know if it's been created yet, let alone if it is somewhere in Toronto."

"I gather your assistant never mentioned where exactly she got it?"

"Once I saw what she brought the only reason I would be interested would be to purposefully avoid the place. I never asked."

"In that case all we can do is hope my friend manages to find something as he spreads the word that he is searching for such an item."

"Do you think it will work?"

"I can only hope. I promised to pay for the object generously, were he able to find it."

"You did?"

"Leaving such an item unguarded might be perilous now that the future might have been altered and it could be used by a decidedly less responsible person, but you _are _my friend, no matter if to me it seems that relationship was formed very short while ago."

"Thank you. You really are a good friend, Henry."

He graced her with his brilliant smile again. "I try."

III

Once Henry left to allow her to get some rest before what was sure to prove another trying day, Vicki found herself unable to relax. Not only had her life taken a sudden plunge somewhere where she never before imagined but the reactions of the vampire prince were somehow very disturbing to her.

That was a strange sensation. Especially since, much as she hated to admit the fact, she was increasingly convinced that what she was finding so hard to take was that Henry seemed to be to her now exactly what she wanted to convince herself he was in the future. A good friend. No underlying romance or sparks of affection visible in his eyes. While before she found those slightly uncomfortable, lack of them altogether was proving simply unbearable.

She briefly wondered how much had changed by the way their relationship was formed. Agreeably, his approach was friendly enough and there were moments when she was almost able to believe that she was dealing with her Henry... with _future _Henry but then she caught a look or a gesture that was purely that of a friend and the illusion was instantly shattered.

Could it be that the trials they went though when they first met proved so essential to Henry developing feelings for her? Was it her giving him her blood? But then again, 'you are a part of me now' talks or not, he fed from different women all the time and she somehow doubted it made him develop any feelings for all of them.

Her now more firmly formed bond with Mike probably wasn't helping matters. Henry's acceptance of it came as something of a surprise to her. She imagined that if there was anything of the feelings she thought she could see reflected in his eyes before in him now the information would encourage him to say or do something. Yet nothing of a kind happened. Somehow it made her feel as if one more thing in her world was missing.

She hit her pillow in a helpless fury she could not direct properly. Why didn't she do anything when Henry was offering his affection? Well, aside from that fiasco during Norman's reappearance but if she was honest with herself she was all too eager to back out from that when the opportunity had arisen. It should serve her right that now she had no chance for that when she wasted her chances before. Was she really so flattered by Henry and Mike rivalling for her attention that she was afraid to make a move in either direction in fear that it would all end? That made her sound like a shallow idiot, let alone a heroine of some silly romance novel that she always felt an urge to slap as soon as she was described.

Besides, she had good reasons for acting the way she did. She very well remembered she did. There was the fact that she had a chance to see up close how easily what starts as a passionate relationship can end with abandonment and tears. She was going blind and approaching the stage where she would turn into a burden, which was simply not acceptable. She knew that both Henry and Mike had much better options to take as soon as they got over her which was bound to happen sooner rather than later so binding them in any way would simply be unfair to them.

Somehow neither of those sounded quite as convincing now that none of it really mattered anymore. Groaning into a pillow she fell into a fitful sleep.

III

If it was possible, the next day proved to be even worse than the previous one. A few people at the station unfortunately managed to notice the new sparkler on her finger and while a well-aimed glare from her silenced any comments, she could feel the eyes of her colleagues following her every move.

Lunch she skipped, settling for futilely trying to improve her mood by treating herself to a box of doughnuts and ridiculous amounts of coffee. Seeing how Mike was busy with attending to the family that started arriving to the city there really wasn't any point in going out to meet him.

Instead she did the only thing she could do to alleviate Mike's burden - she volunteered to take care of Dylan while _her fiancé _(she still could not believe there was actually a person she could call that) was trying to deal with all the outstanding arrangements.

For the first time she could remember she left work as soon as she could and went to pick the boy up from kindergarten. Once she did she was hit with the knowledge that she actually didn't have the first idea what one should actually _do _with a child.

"Would you like to go to the park, Dylan?"

"Nah, the park is boring. Could we do something else, Aunt Vicki?"

"Something like what?"

"Go to Adventureland?"

Even she knew this wasn't the sort of thing one did with kids on a mid-week afternoon.

"Think again, kid."

"Then could we visit Henry? He promised to teach me how to draw a dog next time?"

Afternoon or not it was still a good couple of hours before sunset.

"Uh, I think Henry is busy today. You like dogs?" She threw in desperately.

"Kinda. Do you think Uncle Mike will let me have a dog? Mum and Dad never did." Well, it was nice to know what could prove a bargaining chip but she wasn't about to make any declarations now when they could be used against her.

"I guess you'll need to discuss that with him. Would you like to go to a pet shop and look at puppies though?"

"Looking at puppies is so girlish." Funny that Vicki didn't recall doing that. Ever. "And besides if Uncle Mike doesn't agree there is no use _looking _at them." Well, at least the kid was smart, she had to give him that much.

"Toy store then?"

"Will you buy me Lego blocks?"

"We'll see."

"Okay."

The kid smiled, which she naively took as a good sign. An hour later, at the sight of trembling lips and faced with the most ridiculous price for a set of blocks, she was forced to reconsider. Finally, reasoning with herself that spoiling the boy a bit while he dealt with such a serious change in his life wasn't really a bad thing to do she relented. Only to be then talked into buying enough sweets for a whole preschool on their way home just because she wanted the kid to go peacefully. That turned to be rather counterproductive but in the end she managed to appease Dylan by renting a video with some cartoon he wanted to watch.

Once they got to her apartment she put the cartoon in the DVD player, managed to negotiate leaving half of the sweets for later and slumped into her sofa as the boy's attention turned to the action on the screen.

She was going to be a horrible mother. Or stand-in mother as the case may be.

III

That evening she did not hear from Henry aside from a call to inform her that so far no progress was made when it came to the search for the candle. A call that she had taken somewhere between attempts to restore her apartment back to the state of somewhat resembling order after it was stricken by hurricane Dylan.

After it was possible to safely go through her place once again she poured herself a drink and sat in her armchair. The fact that she was not going to see Henry that evening seemed very unsettling for reasons unknown. It wasn't as if she didn't go before without seeing him for sometimes a week when he was busy working to meet his deadline. But now somehow his presence seemed like a lifeline in this crazy world.

All of a sudden she felt as if she was living somebody else's life. A life of some _other _Vicki Nelson that didn't have all that much in common with herself. And whose life had been recently turned upside down all the same.

Suddenly she needed to talk to someone, even if it wouldn't, by necessity, be a talk about the real situation she was in. She reached for the phone and almost without looking selected the number.

"Hi, Mom. I'm sorry I'm calling so late but I needed to talk to you..."

III

If she thought her previous days were bad she was proven definitely wrong when she was forced to face Molly's and Richard's funeral, as Mike's fiancé no less and with Dylan at their side. To make things worse, she was keenly aware of the calculating eyes of the Celluci family, trying to judge her suitability as a family addition. She had a strange feeling she was failing most of their tests.

Between the morning preparations and trying to carry on some conversation before the ceremony in attempt to make it at least a bit easier for Mike she knew she definitely was not the right person for this situation. Still, fiancé or not, she owed Mike this much if only in the name of friendship.

The mass in the church she managed to somehow endure, doing her best not to make a fool of herself in front of Mike's family. She briefly wondered if the fact that none of the men in her life was Anglican was some twisted joke of Heaven that decided to have a laugh at her expense. After all, while she might not be very good at remembering about going to church every Sunday when it came to Anglicanism she at least had some vague idea what to expect.

Soon enough though it proved that the mass wasn't actually the worst part of it all. When the ceremony moved to the cemetery she thought she wouldn't be able to stand it any longer, especially with the boy clinging to one of her hands tightly, looking between the whole scene and her with wide, confused eyes.

Her other hand was busy holding Mike's. Glancing at him every once in a while she could see her partner was barely holding up. The lack of sleep was visible in his face and he was pale enough to actually awake the reaction, developed for someone else entirely, of actually worrying about him being out in the sunlight.

After that she had to endure another two or three hours of a family dinner which would probably seem bearable if it wasn't for everything that came earlier. As it was, the whole experience proved to be numbing at best.

When the family finally made all their necessary excuses and left, she and Mike somehow managed to persuade Dylan to go to sleep early. Only then, when they were finally alone, Mike allowed his mask to slip and cried. In the arms of his best-friend-turned-fiancé the detective finally allowed himself to mourn his sister.

Vicki's heart just about broke.

III

When Vicki heard her cell ringing at two in the morning, rousing her from not a particularly peaceful dream on Mike's couch where she had fallen asleep sometime last evening, she picked up the call reflexively, trying to avoid waking Mike or Dylan.

"Hello?" She all but yawned into the phone.

"I'm sorry about the hour, Victoria, but I have news."

"You managed to find out where the candle is?"

"Even better. I just returned from my friend who bought the candle for me. The former owner didn't even seem aware of what he had in his hands."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not exactly reassuring. He could have accidently landed himself back in diapers without knowing what happened."

"Fortunately enough, he didn't. And now such an accident is unlikely seeing how the candle is in my possession."

"Very unlikely. All things considered, for an accident like _that _to happen to the current owner the candle would need to have enough power to organise a nearly five hundred years worth trip." Vicki combed her hair with her fingers and tiptoed to the corridor to put on the shoes. "Where do you want us to meet?"

"You want to meet tonight?"

"Why? Something wrong?"

"I simply expected that you'd rather wait until tomorrow evening. You did have a trying day. I probably wouldn't have called you had I not promised to inform you as soon as I had something."

"Good thing you did then. So where do we meet?"

"How about Wellesley Park? I could meet you on the corner of Rosedale and Bayview."

"Sounds good. Though if you're planning to park there don't count on my connections."

"Don't worry about that."

"Okay. Give me half an hour."

"See you then, Victoria."

"Yeah, see ya."

The call ended. Vicki quickly put on her jacket and slid out of the house locking the door behind her.

III

When she met with Henry, he was holding the candle which was looking as innocently as it did the last time she saw it.

"Hey. I see you've got it."

"Indeed." He handed her the item as they started walking towards the Don River. "It was you who triggered the spell so by all rights you should be the one to end it."

"Oh, can't wait, trust me."

With that they continued the walk in silence until they reached their destination.

"Ready?" She heard Henry ask and was about to confirm when she hesitated. "What is it, Victoria?"

"If I do that... It will mean that everything that I did now will have never happened."

"That's the general idea."

"So it means that the girl I saved and Delphine..."

He looked at the waters of the river reflecting the soft light of the moon.

"Yes, it does."

"How am I to choose which option is better? Perhaps I _should _stay here and continue on..."

"You can't choose. That's the whole idea. It is not and should never be your choice. The only criterion clear enough is that magic is used to distort what is and what should be and not to make things go the way they were supposed to. Nobody asks you to choose who is more worthy of living. Lord knows that is not a choice anyone should be forced to make. You are only to reverse what was magically deformed."

"Even if that means Delphine's death?" She asked sharply.

"Perhaps what happened to her was intended to serve some purpose. Or maybe it was her time and I interfered by giving her what I thought was an eternal life. After all, had she been human, it would be entirely possible that her death was written to occur somewhere during the next five years."

"How can you say that so calmly?"

"I need to believe that God has some plan for the world. Otherwise living in it for as long as I have would be unbearable. Our actions may affect it one way or another but I do believe that someone watches over us and makes sure that tragedies turn into lessons and mistakes into motivation to improve."

They stood in silence for a moment before Henry put a hand on her arm reassuringly.

"Do you think you are ready now?"

Vicki nodded before she managed to speak. "Yeah, I guess. Thank you for everything, Henry. I would have gone crazy if it wasn't for you."

"No matter the time and the circumstances we met under, I _am _your friend Victoria."

"I know. And I'm grateful for that." With that she threw the candle into the water.

III

For some reason she expected that action to bring her back to the future. Instead she heard a splash as the candle created a crown of droplets on the surface. Then the river carried it on until it disappeared from view.

"Great, so we tried. What do we do now?"

"We haven't exactly failed yet, Vicki. This might take some time."

"How much time? A couple of minutes? Hours? Days? Or perhaps we should wait for the whole duration of the damned five years for it to take effect?"

"I would say the latter is least likely. As to your earlier question, I propose we go home. You look like you need some sleep and I have some inking to do."

"How can you think of work at time like this?"

"And what else should I do? We seem to have used our share when it comes to existential topics."

"You know what, maybe you're right."

Somehow going back to Mike's apartment was harder than she expected. She felt almost like a bird that thought it was freed from its cage only to be forced into it again.

She did her best to squash that thought. After all Mike deserved better than that.

As quietly as she left she came in and took off her shoes and jacket before going back to her spot on the couch.

III

When she awoke it was still dark. In fact, it was darker than she remembered it being with some light streaming through the windows.

Suddenly she realised she wasn't on the couch but resting on her desk.

Her head shot up so fast she felt dizzy as she did her best to hastily flick on the light. Sure enough, when she did the edges of her vision were once again missing.

"Oh, good, you're awake. I figured you had a tough night so I didn't wake you but now I was about to go home and didn't want to leave you sleeping in an open office." The familiar voice of her assistant came from the doorway.

Vicki resisted the urge to go over to the girl and hug her. After all, she did have something or another wrong with her heart so it was better not to risk it, right?

"Thank you for the thoughtfulness, Coreen. But if I didn't know better I'd have thought Mike was rubbing off you."

"Ha ha. Anyway, I dealt with Mr. Gordon myself and we didn't have anyone else scheduled for today so there was no point waking you when you were obviously tired."

"Thanks, Coreen." She smiled to herself. "But you wouldn't believe the dream I had..."

She would have said something more if her sight suddenly wasn't drawn to the candle on her desk. Which was dark violet and without any symbols whatsoever. All her thoughts came to a sudden halt for a few seconds.

"I imagine. You did have a lot of time to dream. But I need to be going so unless you want something for two hours ago..."

"Nah, you're free to go. But Coreen, out of curiosity. Where did you go to high school?"

The girl turned around and looked at Vicki strangely. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just curious a couple days ago and remembered now. I figured I would ask you before it slips my mind again."

"If you say so. It was Hill Park School in Hamilton."

"Hamilton?"

"Yeah. I only moved to Toronto when I went to college. Not that I lasted long but you already know that." The girl grinned. "Anything else?"

"No, that's all. See you tomorrow, Coreen."

"Yeah. Bye, Vicki!"

With that the girl was gone, leaving Vicki staring at the candle as if the poor item had any answers to offer.

III

A shadow moved in an impossible speed through her office and suddenly Vicki became aware of her vampire partner standing next to her.

"Hi, Henry."

"Good evening, Vicki." There was an unmistakable softer inflection on her name that she only now realised wasn't present in the way the past Henry pronounced it.

She turned to him and carefully analysed his face. He was smiling. His eyes sparkled but were somewhat dimmed. She wondered if they had been that way for long and how she could not have noticed that before. In any case, knowing how it felt to see the sparkles gone she suddenly resolved herself to take a lesson from the past, even if it was a past that in fact never happened.

She saw the smile on his lips falter as a frown appeared on his face.

"Vicki, are you all right?"

"What would you say," she started somehow unable to resist putting her theory to test, "if you learned that Mike proposed to me?"

Suddenly he stilled and she could have sworn he paled even more. His eyes immediately darted to her hand and his posture relaxed a bit upon finding nothing there but his gestures remained guarded.

"Has Celluci proposed?" He asked carefully, seeming to have trouble choosing his words.

"I never said he did. I just asked you a question."

"Please, don't torture me like this, Victoria. If he did, tell me right now and..."

"Would you care if he did?"

"Have I not shown that I cared over this whole year, Vicki? Have I not shown you now? Please, tell me if..." The pained expression on his face was suddenly too much for her and she cut him off with a kiss. That action, seemed to have surprised him even more. He broke the kiss fairly quickly. "Victoria, please. What kind of game are you playing?"

"No game, Henry."

The confusion and hurt in his eyes seemed to be transforming into anger now.

"Then what is the meaning of this? How am I to take that?"

"I just wanted to check something."

"And what would that be? If it's worth accepting Celluci?"

"No. If I haven't imagined that there was something there. And for the record, Mike didn't propose."

"Why say it then?"

"If you recall, I never did."

"Fine then, you didn't." His anger seemed to subside allowing previous emotions to take the stage again. Somehow it hurt to see them back. She actually preferred the anger. At least she knew how to deal with it.

"Okay then, different question. What would you do if I told you that I didn't want us to be friends anymore?"

The hurt in his eyes even increased, confusing her for a moment.

"I would abide by your wishes." He whispered in a barely audible voice. "Is this where it's leading to, Vicki?"

Suddenly the double meaning of her words hit her with both the power and subtlety of a ton of bricks.

"God, Henry, I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was not being _friends_ anymore."

He was looking at her intently.

"What would you want us to be then?"

"You tell me. If I was indifferent to you, the supposed news about my engagement would only earn a shrug. A friend would simply congratulate me. You did neither."

"Victoria..." It was at that point hard to tell if it was actually pleading or warning.

"So I just want you to know that if you're interested in owning up to what it implies, I'm all for it."

Suddenly all the emotions on his face gave way to indifference.

"And if I'm not?"

Vicki suddenly recoiled as if he physically punched her and broke eye contact, trying to force the tears that suddenly started gathering in her eyes not to fall. In vain.

It took her a good minute to realise she was in Henry's embrace as he whispered apologies into her hair. She felt she was shaking but she tried to find her voice.

"Henry?"

"I'm sorry, Vicki. Words cannot convey how I regret saying that. Please, forgive me."

"No, it's fine. I mean, if that's what you feel it was only fair that you told me."

"Victoria, please, look at me." He gently lifted her chin so that short of closing her eyes she had little choice but to meet his. "Uttering those accursed words was my attempt to turn the tables on you for the question you greeted me with. It was wrong of me and millennia wouldn't be enough time for me to even begin to compensate for that."

Still recovering, she only managed to nod.

"I am well aware that my action was truly inexcusable but for all it's worth, allow me to assure you, Vicki, that I _do _love you with my whole heart. A heart that belongs to you if you only want it."

"Since when?" She suddenly asked.

"Pardon?"

"Since when do you love me?"

"Have I really wounded you this deeply that you doubt me even in my love? I truly could not begin to atone for my foolish action. I loved you from the day we met in that club. You had me distracted enough that I actually let the dawn catch me outside that day. And since then my love for you has only grown."

"Are you sure it wasn't something else? That you haven't simply convinced yourself that you..."

"If there is one thing I am sure of, it's that. Please, don't doubt me on this."

She searched his eyes for any hint that he might not be telling the truth but found none. Suddenly feeling that the last of her reserves left her, she fell back into his embrace. A moment later she felt a soft kiss placed on her lips.

She let it last for a moment but this time she was the one that broke it. She looked at Henry.

"Caught outside at dawn? Really?"

"Really. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to stop paying attention to insignificant details such as my own survival upon meeting a fascinating creature like yourself."

"So can we say we agree on the 'not friendship' thing?"

She was answered with another kiss. And she let that one last.

THE END

Reviews will be greatly appreciated.


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